Crochet Rose Basket

Hello beautiful people, I know you are feeling wonderful. How do I know? Well, these last few days as I toured thru Blogland, I saw beautiful pictures of warm family gatherings, lovely decorated trees, snowmen, scrumptious goodies to eat, little children enjoying the festive season...some of them for the very first time and of course lots of gorgeous gifts. So I can safely say... a good time was had by all  :)

It did make me feel a little lonely as we are practically friendless here in Ahmedabad. But not to worry as I have all of you, my dear friends out there. Blogging really brings friends right into our homes doesn't it? Along with pictures of our crafts we share pictures of our homes, our children, pets, grandkids, kitchens and occasionally even bathrooms. Which is sometimes more than what we share with our non-bloggy friends...no? Hmmm, I love Blogland.

Now first of all let me welcome some new friends who have joined us;

Elisabeth from Elizy Art

Salete from Sacroche

Anna from Annasimplecrochet

Andreia Santos from Refugios dos Pontinhos

Aishwarya from Aishwaryas World

Roos from Freubeldingetjes

Yufang from Hollywood Cerise

Isha from Keep Crocheting

Beena from Beenascreations

Maria Nazareth from Maria's Creations 

and Lakshmi Kumar.

A warm welcome to all of you. If I have not mentioned your name please drop me a line with the URL of your blog.

I know I have not been posting much.  Actually I have been very busy with my hook but not so busy with my camera...(what with my recent hospital stint making me realise that life is short). While in hospital my thoughts kept running back to the loads of yarn at home which I had not yet opened from the packaging or ...fondled enough...hehe. As you all are aware one good photo on the blog means ten other photos taken in different places and light conditions, and I did not want to put my hook down to do that. I have been crocheting like crazy and I hope to share a few projects before 2012 comes to an end. Of course there is always 2013, now that the world has decided not to end itself  ;) !!

Today I want to share this lovely crochet Rose Basket. The pattern is from a Japanese book and I have been wanting to try it out for a long time. As you can imagine there was a lot of guesswork involved but I finally managed to get it done. It may not look like the pic in the book but I am quite happy with it. So here it is;

 

I have used Laura knitting cotton from THIS stash and a 3.0 mm hook. Initially I planned to click step by step photos to show how it was done, but along the way I realised that it was quite simple. And you can make it without a pattern actually. 

So here goes;

Just choose your favorite granny square with or without flowers, join six of them together.

 

 

Now crochet a circle as big as the ring formed by the granny squares. This is the pattern I used from the original pattern.

 

Then attach the circle to your granny ring with slip stitches. 

There your lovely basket is done! You can use it to keep your cosmetics, keys, jewellery, etc.

How do you like it? So, do you think I am going to use it on my dressing table?

Nah... of course not, I am going to use it as my crochet work basket... hehe.

The colors are a bit boring but this was also a way to reduce my stash. Next time I am going to try different colors and also a thinner thread. 

Did you like the basket? If you do decide to make it, please do send me the link to your blog post or atleast send me a picture of your basket. I would definitely love to see it.

Lots of other FOs to be photographed so off I go.

Right now I am following "Grey's Anatomy" (love it) and "Packed to the Rafters" (like it very much) on the telly, what are you watching?

Looking forward to your comments. Take care and Happy Holidays.

Love and hugs xxx

Sand or Tan?

Hi Girls! I hope the week has been treating you well so far.

Lets begin by welcoming our new friends:
          Weaver Birdie at I Love Handmade!
          Susan Carlson at Felted Button
          Archana at Things I do ... in my World
          Maree at Mareelovescolour

Okay now tell me, did you read the title and think this post was about a weekend at the beach. Sadly there is no beach in Ahmedabad. Well, it is so true that you realise the value of something only after you have lost it. My parents' home was just two minutes away, yes that's right only two minutes away from the beach. As kids my brother and I spent most evenings walking to the beach with Mom and making sand castles, filling our pails at the water's edge and eating roasted peanuts. After marriage I moved to an area that was kilometers away from the nearest beach. And now Ahmedabad! But not to worry, as recently, the banks of the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad have been endowed with the Sabarmati Riverfront - a unique project that will handle water management while creating a public promenade, that has soon become a tourist attraction. Definitely on my must see list.

So, what's with the beachy title? Well, the title refers to my latest project which is this square doily.

Upon completing the doily I was stuck for words when it came to describing the colour of the doily. I mean, gone were the innocent school days when colours were red, blue, green and yellow. And any variations were just light blue and dark blue, light green and dark green and so on. 

But today these definitions are not enough. No siree! Today we have True blue, Baby blue, Bahama blue and Avocado, Pistachio, Celery and Cornsilk, Goldenrod, Tangerine and what not. So what the heck do I call my doily. Sand? Tan? Beige?  After some Google research I chanced upon "Fawn" and felt that, that is the right word to describe the colour.

So here are my Fawn coloured square doilies. I had enough Bliss knitting cotton to make a set of three with a 2.00 mm crochet hook.

Now if you have been wondering why my projects are always photographed on this two colour background, here is the secret. Well, no big secret actually but just the swing in my balcony. You would think that with this unbearable heat and scorching sunlight, I would get good pictures indoors. But no, the swing is the only place where I get good photos. Or maybe that speaks a lot for my "skills" as a photographer! Anyway here is my multipurpose swing adorned with a few of my projects.

What prompted me to reveal this today is the question "Where is your favourite place to take pictures?" by Susan at Felted Button. Do tell me your answer.

Now here is the real secret. The swing is a part of the furniture we got along with the house we have rented. I don't use the swing as a swing as I am sure my "delicate" frame will crack the poor thing! Ha ha. 

My next project is a beautiful thread doily with pansies. Hope I can share it with you soon (as I have still not bothered to get new glasses!).

Thanks for visiting me. Take care and happy hooking.

(A small note to all my fellow bloggers and followers: Please write a small comment when you join my blog and also don't forget to state the name of your blog, so that I can follow you too. Thank you.)

PS: If you are a die hard Sridevi fan like me, you must watch "English Vinglish". Great movie, fantastic performance and superb direction.

Love xxx

 

Squared Away

Hi Girls, How are you? Waiting for the week to end.... yeah I know.

The company that DH works for has a six day week so we really look forward to Sundays as that is the only day he can relax...poor thing.

A warm hug to Kara from Petals to Picots. Kara has a wonderful site with lot of crochet info, resources, patterns and tutorials. A must visit site for any crochet addict.

During my coaster mania I showed you these Square coasters. I made these coasters using Bliss Knitting Cotton. As I really like this pattern I decided to make it once again using Laura knitting cotton this time. Laura is thicker than Bliss so I got a thicker and slightly larger coaster/doily.

This is as per the original pattern. It has four picots in the center of each petal. I thought the design might look better without the picots, so here is the second one I made.

 

Personally I like the second one better as I like picots only on the outer edge. When used within the design I feel picots look crowded.

So here are both the doilies.

And here they are "on duty".

In this next pic you can see the difference between Bliss knitting cotton and Laura knitting cotton.

Now for a not so pretty picture. I did mention that the reaction to the antibiotics caused my hands to swell with redness and irritation. The swelling and redness has gone away but as is always the case the skin now starts peeling away and this is what my palms look like.

 

Not a pleasant sight I know, and sorry about that. But this time I got away lightly with only the finger tips. This also means no contact with detergents, chillies, spices and any abrasive stuff for a few days. 

As this has happened in the past, DH has hired somebody to help with the cooking for a few weeks. Isn't that absolutely sweet of him?!!

I have yet to dig out all the bag handles from my stash so maybe tomorrow I will put up pictures of the handles.

PS: Is anybody watching/has watched the tele serial "Make It or Break It" a story about elite gymnasts preparing for the Olympics? I just love/adore Payson Keeler. Who is your favourite character?

So ciao until next time. Happy hooking. Take care.
Love xxx

Kitchen Kompanion

Hi friends, How are you? I hope all of you are in the pink of health. The last few weeks really proved to me that Health is indeed Wealth.

A warm welcome to Mor Lotte at Familien Geleff Fonnesbech  and Rita Ataide (Rita, if you have a blog please let me have a link to it).

Now that I am up and about, I am happy to be back in my kitchen. Takeaway dinners are fun only when it is not compulsory, isn't it? So to celebrate I made one more potholder to  brighten my kitchen.

I really liked the centre of this potholder. What starts out as DC shells ends up as small circles which then form petals of a bigger flower.

This pattern is once again from Best free crochet. I am sorry I don't have a link to the pattern directly. It is a vast site with hundreds of patterns but not user friendly and finding your favourite pattern sometimes takes ages. But all the patterns are really cute and lovely.

Here are the potholders I made so far.

So, how do you like my kute kitchen kompanions?

Right now I am working on this Golden Evening Purse but I am not sure about the kind of handles I can add to it. Next time I will upload pictures of the handles I have and maybe you can give me your suggestions.

So cheerio until the next time. Happy hooking and hope you have a lovely week.

Love xxx

Rainbow Mandala

Hi friends, I finished the Rainbow mandala yesterday, but as it was a public holiday here I decided to spend the day with the Boys.

Yesterday was Raksha Bandhan which is essentially a celebration of the bond between brothers and sisters. This is one festival which transcends religious barriers and people of all faiths celebrate it. The sister ties a rakhi (sacred thread) on her brother's wrist to show her love for her brother, while praying for his well being. The brother promises to always protect and take care of his sister/s. Raksha in Hindi means to Protect. The brother also gives gifts to the sister which can be anything from chocolates, clothes, books or even jewellery depending on the sister's taste.

Raksha Bandhan does not require a biological connection between brothers and sisters, so while it can be celebrated between cousins, step siblings and even distant relatives, we also have Hindu sisters tying rakhis to Muslim brothers and Christian sisters tying rakhis to Hindu brothers and so on. I think we need more such festivals in India where people are not segregated depending on their religion, caste, creed or race.

This is what a Rakhi looks like:

And now let me welcome two sisters in arms hooks, Sophie from Sophie's Paradise and Barbara from Made in K-town.

Now on to the topic of mandala. I got a few queries about the mandala which I will try to answer in brief.

Mandal is a Sanskrit word meaning Circle. The mandala has spiritual and ritual significance and can often be seen in Hindu, Buddhist and Tibetan religious art. The word mandala has become a generic term for any circular pattern and for us crocheters it means a circular pattern with beautiful concentric designs.

And while on the topic of mandalas do visit Barbara who has a fantastic pattern for a gorgeous Spring Mandala. I am definitely going to make this one.

The inspiration for my present mandala can be found HERE at Crochet with Raymond. I wanted a Rainbow Mandala and these are the shades of Laura Knitting cotton I chose.

Here is my "cool" mandala before I added the warm colours,

This is the completed mandala without the edging, does look like a rainbow, doesn't it?

 

I tried 2-3 edging patterns before deciding on a simple sc and picot edging which would not distract from the beauty of the mandala. 

And ta-da, my beautiful, lovely Rainbow Mandala,

 

Serene Buddha on a beautiful mandala.

 

I used a 3.50 mm crochet hook this time to get a flexible fabric. The mandala is 13 inches in diameter.

 Slice of Rainbow pizza, anyone?

 

So, how do you like  my handmade rainbow?

This is my second post today so do scroll down to meet my cute little friends who came to party.

As per dear Charlotte's suggestion I have added my email address to my profile page so now you have one more way to contact me.

See you soon and Happy hooking.

Love xxx

New Things

Hello there, How have you been? It is almost a week since I posted and I am hoping you missed me, I sure missed you all. Well, let me tell you what I have been up to.

But before that let me say a warm hello to Glor from Crochet Galore, Sharon at From my Front Porch, Begonvilliev at Crochet at Begonvilliev, Daksha from Daksha's Vegetatian Recipes World , Maggie from Flowers in the Window and Massasad1. Welcome aboard, everyone.

A new month, new ideas, new thoughts, new patterns, new projects and new yarn. This month will also bring a new year for my dear hubby.  Because his birthday is in August...yay!!

In this post I showed you the new yarn I had ordered from Mumbai. And since I was sure that you are fed up with my coaster run I decided to try the new yarn and a new pattern.

The yarn is Laura Knitting Cotton and it produces a thick fabric. I have used a 3.00 mm crochet hook. I decided to go for a small project at first to get a feel of the yarn and made these potholders.

 

Aren't they just spiffy? They came out quite thick so I did not make a backing for them, and I think they will work well as hotpads too. Maybe hanging them up as kitchen wall decor would be a good idea, I wonder if I will actually use and spoil them.

The patterns for these potholders are from Maggie Weldon's site Best Free Crochet which has 100's of free patterns for potholders, dishcloths, home decor, afghans and more.

I have already started my next project with this yarn. It is a Granny Mandala (or circle) in rainbow colours. Here is a sneak peek,

The balls show the colours yet to be added. I just can't wait to complete it and see how it turns out. Would you like to see the finished mandala? 

We had a good downpour yesterday (long awaited) as you can see from my balcony. 

Here is my poor feathered friend, all drenched and looking for shelter.

I have some exciting news, but I will reveal it tomorrow. What.....you want a hint? Okay the hint is that "I was expecting...". And No, it does not mean THAT..... come on, I am too old for babies.

So see you soon...haha.

Love xxx